Zain, Ooredoo and VIVA have become the first mobile operators in Kuwait and in the Middle East and North Africa region to commercially launch a Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) interconnection. The service which is available now between all three networks will offer subscribers with an enhanced, seamless and more reliable HD voice calling experience, as well as a faster call set-up time.

The GSMA worked alongside all three operators offering support during the early phases which included several technical tests in partnership with Huawei prior to the full commercial launch. All operators have invested strongly to develop their 4G LTE infrastructure in order to provide their customers with a better calling experience and the move highlights Kuwait’s advanced telecommunications sector in the MENA region. The next stage will see trials of a similar interconnection on an international scale.

At the time of writing, there has been 113 operator VoLTE launches in 58 countries to date with services available on 1114 different devices. Go to our website to find out more.

The GSMA’s Future Networks programme is working to support operators in the transformation towards 5G technologies and help them capitalise on the new opportunities that IP based technologies will usher in. This will also focus on our previous work to make it easier for operators to upgrade Person-to-Person (P2P) services such as Rich Communication Services (RCS) as well as new interconnection models.

For more information or to get involved, please go here: http://www.gsma.com/futurenetworks/

The GSMA would like to extend special thanks to Hamsingh Abraham and Abdelrahman Ahmed of Ooredoo, Dr. Mohamed ELWakiel of VIVA and Ziad Alforaih of Zain.